Lifeguards: Body found is missing surfer

San Diego  Lifeguards said that a body discovered in the ocean off Pacific Beach Thursday morning is the 42-year-old local surfer who was reported missing under unusual circumstances the night before.

The body was found at Tourmaline Surf Park Beach in some kelp about 3:30 a.m. by a person walking on the beach south of Sea Ridge Drive, said San Diego lifeguard Lt. John Everhart.

The body, which was unclothed, had significant trauma that appeared to be shark bites, which are believed to have occurred after the man presumably drowned, the lieutenant said.

His surfboard was found Wednesday night with his wet suit tied around it, Everhart said.

Everhart said it’s not clear whether the man died accidentally or by suicide.

The man’s fiancée has been notified of his death but his name has not been released pending the notification of his family.

Lifeguards, police officers and the Coast Guard launched a search Wednesday night after the surfer was spotted in the water off Tourmaline beach shortly before sundown.

A lifeguard who was in a tower about a half-mile away saw the man about 7:30 p.m. and about the same time, authorities got a 911 call from someone on the beach concerned about the surfer, who had disappeared from view several hundred yards offshore.

Lifeguards in personal watercraft and a lifeguard boat responded, along with a San Diego Fire-Rescue Department helicopter.

A Coast Guard helicopter and cutter joined in the search about a half-mile north of Crystal Pier. Everhart said several people on the beach said they saw the surfer paddling on the board. He said no one, including the lifeguard, saw any indication that the surfer was in distress, such as waving his or her arms in the air.

Everhart said the surfer’s fiancé reported him to San Diego police as missing about 10 p.m.

A car belonging to the man was found in a beach parking lot, Everhart said.

Tommy Calagna, 23, of Pacific Beach, and girlfriend Emily Fick, 20, of San Marcos, were on the beach and saw the surfer sitting on the board. They said he or she was so far out that at first they thought they were seeing a dolphin.

Looking more closely, Calagna said he thought the surfer appeared to be a male with short hair.

When the surfboard turned up empty, Calagna, who surfs, went looking on the beach himself in the dark to see if he could help find the missing person.

“It’s definitely strange,” he said.

Officials with the Medical Examiner’s Office retrieved the body about 6 a.m.